The runway at London’s Stansted airport was temporarily shut on Tuesday after a protest was put up to prevent deportations to Nigeria and Ghana.
There are reports of not less than eight inbound flights diverted as a result of the closed runway around 10:00pm (2100 GMT).

“The situation was quickly contained but the police carried out a full inspection of the airfield in advance of confirming it was safe to re-commence flight operations at 11:17pm,” airport spokesman said.

A video published on a “Stop Charter Flights – End Deportations” Facebook page showed a group of people lying next to a plane, chanting: “No borders, no nations, stop deportations”.
The group claimed the Nigeria-bound flight had been cancelled as a result of their protest.
Stansted airport was unable to confirm the flight status as it was a private charter and not operated from the main passenger terminal, the spokesman said.

London Stansted, north-east of the city, is one of five airports serving the British capital.